CH@T on Line: Telecom History in Taiwan (Part I)

A hundred year history of telecommunication development in Taiwan: Paving the way from the late Qing Dynasty, through a century of effort, to the borderless of today

1.    Introduction
It has been human being's dream to transfer messages across long distances in a fast way. For this reason, our ancestors invented some communication tools such as beacon fire, mail pigeon, remount stations, speakers, telescope, and light house to fulfill this dream. Nowadays, the spatial distance is no longer the real distance for people. Whether it is from Kaohsiung to Penghu, to the United States across Pacific Ocean, to the distant African prairie or the icy Antarctica, making a phone call, sending an E-mail with attached documents and/or images for business, or even passing a private shot movie, are as easy as pushing a button. These telecommunication miracles have all been achieved within the last 120 years.


Telecom Standard Clock電信標準鐘
1900, L40 x W80 x H288cm

 

 


2.    Germination under Pressure


The telecommunication business began in the latter year of the Qing Dynasty. Along with the invasion of the powerful foreign countries, telegraph, wireless telegraph, and telephone are introduced into our country. Under the consideration of convenience and power of telecommunication as well as demand on politics, commerce, diplomacy, and military, the Qing government began setting up the network and developing our domestic telecommunication business. It is worthwhile noting that Taiwan stood first on the line of this early development of telecommunication history by setting up the first telegraph line due to military consideration.

Morse Code Siphon Transmitter/Receiver摩斯電碼波紋收發報機
1960, L31x W51x H22cm
Morse Single Current Telegraph Key摩斯單流電鍵
1920, L13 x W10 x H7.5cm
Bell-Invented Telephone Set Model貝爾發明之電話機模型
1960, L21 x W19 x H17cm

 

 

3.    Construction and Destruction

Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895; the Japanese started to expend their telecommunication construction based on Min-Chuan Liu’s work. The most important things that the Japanese focused on were to set up submarine cables and to expend local telephone systems. Radio system was another progress that the Japanese worked on after the submarine cable and the local telephone system. In addition, the long distance communication coverage was able to cover the whole Taiwan Island. However, these structures suffered heavy damages during the 2nd World War and only about half of them remained after the war.

Hand-Operated Magnetic Telephone手搖磁石式電話機
1960, L20 x W26 x H42cm
Manual Telephone Exchange (Console) 人工交換機(座席)
1960, L60 x W64 x H125cm
Submarine Cable Used During Japan Occupation日據時期海底電纜
1917, L50 x W6* H6cm

 

 

4.    Difficult Times

Facing the devastating situation after the war, the telecomm industries devoted full attention to the recovery effort and luckily rebuilt the network without too long a down time. Not long after the recovery, the Mainland Chinese government relocated to Taiwan. With sudden increases in population and ever-increasing economical, political, and militarily needs, Telecomm Bureau once again was facing new challenges.

Tape Teletypewriter(Model 24)紙條電傳打字機(24型)
1950, L41 x W39.5 x H28.8cm
Step-by-Step Telephone Exchange(Kinmen)步進制交換機(金門)
1960, L134 x W35 x H250cm
Local Phone Testing Console市話測試座席台
1971, L95 x W159 x H146cm


 

5.    Over Demand for Telephones

Taiwan came to life again after the wars. The industries, commerce and businesses, which related to ordinary lives, have become prosperous since the 1950’s, and accordingly, the demand for telecommunication service was increased greatly. However, to popularize the service of telecommunication, it is necessary to invest a large amount of money to establish the infrastructure comprehensively. In 1950, when the government was still poor, it was one of the great challenges to collect money for developing the infrastructure of telecommunication.

Magnetic Hand-Cranked Desk Telephone磁石式手搖桌機
L25 x W19 x H40cm
Facsimile Transceiver傳真收發報機
1968, L49 x W32 x H30.5cm
Paper Insulation Backbone Cable紙絕緣室內幹纜
1970, L16 x W91 x H16cm

 

To view Part II.

Text and images are provided by National Science and Technology Museum